Breakers Set To Reopen After 20-day Cleanup

The Breakers, the grand dame of Palm Beach resorts, will reopen Wednesday after being roughed up by Hurricane Frances.

Although it escaped structural damage, the luxury property was bruised enough to have to close for 20 days while crews restored power, cleared debris, refreshed rooms and retouched details.

Almost 4,000 trees on the grounds of the 140-acre oceanfront property needed to be checked for damage from Frances, whose 100-mph winds battered Palm Beach for the better part of eight hours as it came ashore.

Executives of the five-star resort decided not to rush back into business, but rather take enough time to restore appearances to what luxury guests expect.

"We have made a commitment," said the resort's president, Paul Leone, in a statement after the storm, "that we will not fully reopen our business operation until our property is in the same excellent condition it was when we closed."

The first six days after the Sept. 4 landfall, there was no question that the resort would stay closed. Power was out on the island of Palm Beach and it would take until Sept. 9 for the Breakers to get it reconnected.

After that, six professional cleaning crews were mobilized to spiff up the 560-room resort. After nearly a week without air conditioning, the rooms needed to be aired out and checked for signs of water damage and mildew.

Almost all of the food on site to supply five principal restaurants and three theme bars had to be thrown out.

Some of the most significant damage occurred to the roof of the primary hotel building where a main roof hatch was lost, resulting in rainwater damage to 30 rooms. The hotel's facilities staff, part of its complement of 1,800 workers, has been working along with outside vendors to repair the roof and other smaller damaged areas.

Leone said employees were paid throughout the business interruption.

The 36-hole golf course at the resort got a major drenching of seawater and "a great deal of work has been done," to restore it, said John Bradway, the Breakers' director of strategic marketing.

About 200 trees on the property were felled or so badly damaged that they had to be removed. The resort also suffered significant beach erosion.

After being closed for nearly three weeks, the Breakers plans to open with nearly every room filled, Bradway said. Unlike many of the hotels rebounding from Frances, the Breakers won't be checking in power crews, Federal Emergency Management Agency workers or other groups that tend to trail in the wake of disaster, Bradway said.

The Breakers is not the last hotel to reopen in Palm Beach County. The owners of the Crowne Plaza West Palm Beach have said the hotel experienced extensive water penetration and, while partly open, won't be completely restored until the end of September.

Tom Stieghorst can be reached at tstieghorst@sun-sentinel.com or at 305-810-5008.